Arena Rox - SOLD

A4 Oil Pastel on Cartridge Paper - sealed with high gloss acrylic varnish - includes removeable plastic mount frame

When I was living in Arena Design Centre (a set of warehouses in Manor House) I was squatting in an empty warehouse that I'd been given to run community events in. Essentially, I was allowed to do what I wanted with the space (I had no funding, and the space had no electricity or gas and was completely empty) but I wasn't supposed to be living there.

In true warehouse style, a few friends came together and wired up the electrics for me. We also managed to get hot water for a short while until the boiler broke! I was homeless at the time and so I had to live there on my own!! All through the winter with no hot water or heating, several broken windows and holes in the roof...

But we managed to build a mini ramp and small skatepark upstairs, a coffee shop and bar (shhhh!) downstairs, two art studios and a music jam space! We ran free music and poetry nights, skate lessons and workshops, art workshops and exhibitions, and lots more...all for the community!

I even got some of the events sponsored by Nike SB who sent us boxes of trainers to give away and they even featured a whole wall at the Nike Sb 50 years exhibition in Hoxton, dedicated to the work I was doing.

But I was still homeless haha! Still, did it all anyway and just kept pushing on...

This portrait is taken from two differnt pictures that I took of people in the space. One person was called RED and the other was their friend....the third person at the front? You might know them as @silverrox on TikTok (if not, go and look them up NOW!) - at the time Silver Rox was just making zoot suits and haden't fully blown up yet. The pics I have are absolutelt stunning! But I love this portrait just as much :)